So if there’s one thing I’ve learned about WoW bloggers, it’s that healers are an extremely passionate bunch. Make one observation on Twitter – especially if you’re having trouble with a class – and you will be SWARMED with helpful advice. You will literally get piled on by helpful druids, priests, paladins, and shamans. HERE LET US HELP YOU KEEP PEOPLE ALIVE.

And then suddenly you’re at the bottom of a pile of healers, all of whom are trying to hug you and let you know that it’s okay, you CAN do this.

This is, uh, somewhat different from the PvP community, where… how can I put this politely?

“Welcome to PvP! You’re probably going to hate everything you see in /bg chat for the next 6 months and spend more time at the spirit healer than you ever imagined. Enjoy!”

So I mentioned today that I wanted to try something different on my level 70 Druid, Cynli. She’s resto and healing battlegrounds right now. Healing them badly. I mean, I have finally overcome the problems of my UI – mouseover macros and raid frames are working for me – and I think I got the idea behind the spells – I know what Swiftmend does now, even if I don’t use it enough – but I’m still just kinda floundering along.

I’m also getting my Disc priest Cynedra up to level 70 (66 now), and I’m not floundering on her. I might not be using her to her full advantage – I basically bubble, renew, flash heal, and occasionally PoM the party – but I’m 50 times more competent on her than my druid.

It hit me last night that I wasn’t having fun healing on my druid, that I was just not getting it, and that perhaps I should try something else. And being a druid, I have a lot of options!

But by mentioning it on twitter, and opening up the new spec to public opinion (holy crap I know a lot of Boomkins), the Resto Druid community quickly banded together and SMOTHERED me in a leafy wave of enthusiasm.

Seriously. Do you guys have a Tree Signal or something? I think you do. I think there’s like some kind of alarm system that goes off in the druid healing community when someone even thinks they’re having trouble.

The Boomkin and Bears were right out of the gate, but the trees moved right behind, going WAIT WAIT WAIT WE CAN FIX THIS, YOU ARE BEING SILLY CYN.

Warlocks? We warlocks are like, oh look, another warlock rerolled mage today. I hate myself and will stick with this class because mages are too happy and OP, I like pain.

I feel like part of the problem is that I’ve gotten pretty good with Disc, and the Resto playstyle feels really … different. If I don’t have a bubble on someone in PvP, I can get it up and immediately stop the damage. BAM THIS FAR NO FURTHER. They get a Renew (if I’m moving) or a Flash Heal (if I’m not) and maybe a Binding Heal (if I’m injured too.) Then I move on to the next one.

On my Druid, I’m like, crap, they’re taking damage, Rejuvenate!

And then they die.

So I think I’m doing it wrong.

I’m really touched by the response of the druid community – y’all obviously have some kind of strange communication mechanisms that are far beyond the ken of this simple lock – and the enthusiasm Druids have for healing is contagious.

And very much appreciated by this struggling druid healer. So, thank you.

8 responses to “On My Continuing Struggles with Druid Healing”

Ok Cyn. Now, be gentle with me, I haven’t done much PvP since TBC. But I still putzed around in WG every now and then, and have moments of insanity where I’m like HEY! IT’S X WEEKEND! LET’S DO IT! (And then I remember how much I hate PvP – because there is no yelling at the tank screaming AMG GET IT OFF NOOOOOOOWWWWWW!).But I think that perhaps your struggles are stemming from the fact that you aren’t using the MASSIVE aresenel of druid healing. I mean, when I was a fairly serious PvPer (please…don’t share this with anyone. ever.) It took a small army to kill me or others that I am healing! There is a reason that everyone in the PvP universe HATES RESTO DRUIDS! (Now, a lot has changed in terms of survivability, etc. But I think the basic concepts should be the same).1) You are the most mobile healer, hands down. You can put out an enormous amount of healing on the move, which makes you the biggest pain in the ass on the field.2)Lifebloom makes you a minigod. Use rejuv, but really, Lifebloom should be your go to panic spell – pair it with ToL if you need to get many people topped up quickly (I recommend using the ToL glyph for PvP). Lifebloom has the very significant advantage of ticking every second and then offering a big burst heal at the end. It’s the reasons that it’s been nerfed and re-created a million times. It’s seriously OP in a PvP environmnet. It’s what made druids the undisputed champions of arena healing back in TBC. Cyn, my dark friend, LIFEBLOOM ALL OF THE THINGS on the way to glory!2)Regrowth is exceptionally powerful. Especially if you are talented into NB. It’s a very quick heal and can do a large amount of healing in a pinch.3)WildGrowth. Another heal that will tick every second. It’s instant, can be cast on the run, and can help to get people up very quickly.4)Thorns! If you can afford the GCD place it on your team mate to help them kill that pesky rogue…even through all those damn cheap shots!5)It seems you’ve already got the whole rejuv/SM thing in the can. But my one piece of advice to in heavy damage situations where you are being seiged or whatnot, get those suckers out pre-emptively so they are ticking before your targets start taking damage. I promise you, nothing pisses off a rogue more than to think they are kicking someone’s ass than to have one tick of rejuv heal up half of the damage they did. It’s the original set it and forget it spell! Pair it with a 3 stack of LB and it will take a small army to kill that flag carrier – and you don’t have to stop moving to keep him alive! Want to REALLY piss those rogues off? Swiftmend that target at 25% life back to full and HATE ALL THE ROGUES! Don’t forget that Nature’s Grasp…with three charges they can only break so many of them before they are stuck – suckers!6)NS is your friend, and there is never an “emergency”. It’s a shrot 3 minute cooldown. Don’t feel you have to wait for “the right time” to make use of it!7)Talk to Keredria. She actively PvPs with her druid and is an absolute fiend. She has probably forgotten more about resto PvP than I ever even knew.Druids can be incredibly powerful healers in PvP. They really can. I’m actually al ittle surprised to learn that you are rocking on the disc priest and struggling with the druid, espeicially since both have a fairly proactive healing style :)Anyhow – I hope this small wall of text was at least somewhat helpful! I’d be happy to answer any questions!*Rushes off to the tree-signal*

The response you got on twitter is exactly how druid healing feels to me. It’s not bursty up front, but once you get your hots rolling, the effect is very powerful.Druid healing is like playing affliction. You know how to play affliction. Multi-dot, kite, make life miserable for the entire other team. It’s not bursty and you need to layer your dots to put the pressure on. You don’t try to burn down an enemy head to head as if you were playing a rogue. Same with druids. Move to live.The 5×2 I’d use for druid pvp is this:Roots, Rejuv, Regrowth, Lifebloom, CatNS+HT, Swiftmend, Barkskin, Wild Growth, Tree

Now you’re making me want to try out the other healing classes… I feel really comfortable with Paladin healing but my other healers are all sitting below lvl 22. I’ve healed some bgs on my druid since he hit level 10 – but the arsenal isn’t the same. I wonder if I’d have similar difficulties – I love my paladin because the instant heals and survivability – I like to think that I can take a lot of damage being the focus target and keep myself up – they ignore the FC and focus on the healer… and I’ll keep myself up while the FC gets away.But… not being in plate could I think the same – there are different tools to use, the druid run away and save yourself is quite a different mentality.Now I want to experiment… but I’m also enjoying leveling my rogue mostly through PvP… more time please?

About CWM

Cynwise's Warcraft Manual is a weblog about many facets of the World of Warcraft: PvP battlegrounds, digital avatars, warlock theory, and having fun with alternate play styles are common topics.